jmsoros

Totally inappropriate

trflyer

Disagree... F is where the money is.

...my feeling is ...so what..., I'd just say no thanks and sit down and forget about it. She probably knows she's dancing on thin ice anyway. These FT-ers are a tough crowd.

IcHot

Power trip.

There was an article in the FT How To Spend It mag on Friday about how some brands have loyal, almost obsessed, customers who turn into unpaid ambassadors or defenders of a brand and the brand aficionados become a sort of club. I think we have seen that sort of behavior in here. These folks will tolerate a lot because they love the brand. When they are treated poorly, they are hurt like lovers or they are sympathetic and look for rationalizations.

Then we have the power trippers who want status so they can throw their weight around. What better way to prove your power than to terminate someone?

p1cunnin

If it isn't a policy violation, it should be. The OP should complain to UA -- no need to ask for anything because I would expect UA to immediately deal with the situation and probably come back with a profuse apology to the OP. Clearly, they would investigate, but the likelihood is that it would be a very quick investigation, particularly since it would be simple for UA to match the OP's reservation with the FA's flight. If the pax has the outside business card for the FA, the FA will need to explain how that came to be. Arguably, the FA could claim that the pax initiated a conversation about MLM businesses (Mary Kay or Amway or Avon or whatever). But I would suspect that a couple of these complaints would result in the FA being shown the door in a hurry.

I'm pretty sure that it doesn't make a difference, but I wonder if the FA somehow mistook the OP for a fellow employee (as purser, she probably had the pax manifest). Perhaps the manifest had an employee in the OP's seat. Still doesn't make it right (I once had a co-worker who asked me to a breakfast meeting -- once there, it was a pitch for Amway), but probably not as problematical as pitching a customer.

jamesdenver

Disagree with the disagree. Since she's selling MLM more so than whatever crap product it is, she needs volume. Y gives her more opportunities to lay the base of the pyramid

futureacnp

The brand is Arbonne.

SFflyer123

totally hilarious. if united found out, i'm sure they'd fire her.

futureacnp

Well she said she's making ~$35k/month for doing this, so I'm sure she'll be fine if United shows her the door

Liz

We aren't allowed to solicit on the job. Now have I seen f/a's show other f/a's their Avon, Arbonne, Amway, etc.? Of course. F/a to f/a. That is probably STILL more than UA would like to see happen on the airplane. Calling people up to F to solicit? NO WAY.

BearX220

If she's really clearing more than $400,000 a year in MLM, probably more than ten times her FA salary, that's doubly unbelievable. If I were "solicited" inflight I would certainly complain to the airline. It's completely inappropriate.

EndlosLuft

Hmm.

I read a while ago that FA's get a commission from the sales of Duty Free items. If United actually mixed up their Duty free offerings -- for example explain to me why United doesn't sell one decent bottle of Rum (and no I'm not talking about any Bacardi or Captain Morgan bottle)? -- then I'm sure the FA's would be able to do much better in terms of money coming in.

The catalogs virtually never change and so I almost never buy anything.

I've even gone so far as to contact United about it -- but other than a non-response have not seen a change.

Maybe the FA Union should negotiate with the catering / duty free company regarding optimal choices / revenue -- as it could make a real dollars and sense difference for what the FAs take home every day.

airphone

If they would sell escort services that would be cool. But they would have to be attractive which on united is like seeing a unicorn.

philemer

^ Agree. A similar thing happened to me on an AS flight last year. The FA, however, was pushing her son's business venture.

UAMike73

Or you (and everyone else calling for her head on a platter) could take the direct route and say it to her face, which is not only more time-friendly than writing a letter, it's also the human thing to do. I agree her behavior was unacceptable, but is getting people fired for things really the best answer to just about everything anymore?

How hard would it be to say "Wow, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable but it seems to me like trying to sell things to passengers in-flight is probably something that could get you in trouble with management, and lots of people don't have anything better to do than try and get people fired.."?

PineyBob

A thought occurred to me regarding the OP.

He/She has the F/A's non UA business cards and some sort of product brochure in hand. Photocopy it and send to several executive via Certified mail and see if you get a call back.

Let us know if you do.